Helem merrill



H MERRILL.

Centrifugal Sugar-Machine.

No. 64,181. Patented April 23-, I867.

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HELEM MERRILL, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK. Letters Patent No. 64,181, dated Aia 2-2, 1867.

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fro ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, HELEM MERRILL, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings,and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Method ofSprinlrlingLiquids inthe Refining of Sugar, and for other similarpurposes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,and exact description of the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawing, making a part of this specification, and to theletters of reference marked thereom In the application of water, orrefiners liquor or other liquids, in the manufacture and refining ofsugar,

and for other similar purposes which require the diffusion of a smallamount of fluid over a large surface, the

jet has been divided by forcing it through a strainer orfinely-perforated rose, bywhich the object desired has been imperfectlyattained in the separation and spreading of a single stream into anumber of smaller ones. In the more thorough and expensive manufactureof loaf sugar the same end has been more perfectly accomplished by theuse of wet clay. The chief value of the process of claying sugar in themould-s, which involves so long a time in its operation, consists, it isbelieved, in the gradual separation of the water or liquor from the clayand its slow percolation through the moulds. The moisture passingthrough the sugar is sutlicient to cleanse the crystals, which if theywere subject to the action of a forcible current, would be washed andworn to the detriment of the quantity of the result as well as thequality of the grain, upon which itsvalue depends. The length of timerequired, however, is so serious an objection to its use that it cannotbe advantageously employed where economy is the controllingconsideration.

In the process which I have invented the water, or other washing orbleaching agent, is caught and carried by a current of air or otherelastic medium, by which it is diffused in the form of a finely-dividedspray or mist on the surface of the sugar or other material undertreatment. For the purpose of carrying this process into eflect in thepurification of granulated sugar in a centrifugal machine, I use aflexible pipe communicatingwith an air-pump or reservoir, and furnishedwith a suitable stopcock and flaring nozzle by which a stream of air maybe directed to any part of the machine. Connected with this pipe thereis another pipe by which a small portion of water or other fluid maybeintroduced into the current of air, by which it is seized and blown from*the nozzle in the form of a fine mist against the interior surface ofthe layer of sugar in the machine, through which it is carried by thecentrifugal force in suflicient quantity to produce the whitening effectdesired without prejudice to the size and sharpness of the grain.

To enable others skilled in the art to which it appertai'ns to make anduse my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction andoperation with reference to the drawing, in which a represents aflexible pipe from an air-pump, or reservoir of compressed air, fittedwith a. stop-cock, 6, into a delivery nozzle. The smaller pipe 0 and itscock (1 furnish a supply of water to the nozzle which is diffused anddistributed by and with the current of air.

I claim as my invention- I Difl'using the water, or other cleansing orbleaching agent, in a finely-divided state by means of a current of airor other elastic fluid, substantially as described. l

i HELEM MERRILL.

Witnesses:

HENRY TORSTRICK, WM. KEMBLE HALL.

